Prepayment gas-meter.



H. A. SMILTH. i PREPAYMENT GASMETER.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 13, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

Fg. l.

Patented Aug. 20, 1912.

H. A. SMITH.

PR-EPAYMENT GAS METER.

APPLIGATIQN FILED APR. 13, 1909.

Patented Aug. 420, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

HUGH A. swimmer HOPEWELL, NEW JERSEY', AssIeNoE fro vTEE sfrannnnn METERCOMPANY, or HOPEWELL, NEW JERSEY, A conroaA'rIoN or NEWJEESEY.

Application mea 'April 1s, i909;

certain improve prepayment type,

vin which a coin is deposited and the mechanism' manipulated so as toallow the meter to run until a given 4amount of gas is registered, whenit is automatically shut oi until another coin: is deposited.

One 'object of l'my invention is to so construct the operating parts"that Athey 'will work accurately and not be liable to get out of order,and a further object is to mount the prepayment device on the outsideoit the meter' casing and couple it to the meter mechanism so that therewill heno leakage of gas. And a still further'object is to so attach theinclosing casing and cash receptacle asto make them lreadily detachable,but,- when in place, ing. These objects I manner, panying drawings, inwhich Figure l-,I'is a front view of a gas meter attain in the,following lillustratingwmy improved prepayment device; Fig. '2, isasectional plan view on the line 2 2., Fig. 3; Fig, 3, is a verticalsectional view on the line 3-3,'12; Fig. 4 is a transverse sectionalView on the line if-fl, Fig. 2; Fig. 5, is an end view showing'thegearing; spective view of detached perspective view 'of the cover; Fig.

8, is a detached perspective view of the coin draweryFig. 9, is aperspective View of the two ,rods which secure the casing to the back plate; and Figs'. 10, 11 and 1Q, are perspeo tive views otdetails of theinvention.-

Referring to Fig. l, A is the casing of an ordinary'gas meter and B isthe prepayment devlce' located at one side ofthe meter casing. C is thevalve box in which is a valvey actuatedby the prepayment deviceto `cutoit 'the supply of gas is consumed for which prepayment was madeffllhe.vali/e'stem o has.a slotted arm in which apin travels which is carriedby the prepayment device. fl) is a shaft having on its outer 'eh'dza'long pinion D and mounted 0n this'shaft fwithin the meter casing is aworm wheel'cl actuated by secure against tamper# reference being had tothe accom-v Fig. 6, is a detached per--y the back plate Fig. '7, is a=gas when the amount of-r Serial No. 489,703.

i' a worm cZ on the .shaft D2 driven by a worm andworni gearingfrom-*the main shaft "DE of the meter. The shaft D extends through astutling box "a in' the casing of the meter; 'thus preventing any escapeofgas romthe meter casing in 'the :event ofi a leakage' an The trame ofthe prepayment device consists of a back plate B". and a front plate B2connected togeth'enby suitablerodsb, lsofas to make a rigid frame.' ThisA'trame is` inclosed 'within a casing E .asr described' in 'den tailhereafter.y In this casing, however,'is a- =chute e through` which lthecoin is zinserted and 'above theychute in the p'resentinstance isaglazed opening e through which the indicating plate isvifsiblej.'israshaft je. orthe reception ofthe coin,v Fig. l0',-and' on this shaftis a pin f2 `adiaptedlto lstrike againstv vstops b2, b3 on 'the backyplateV B. he .shaft is'in a direct li'nelwiththel chute'e so that 4whenthe coin is placed in thej'ycliu'te it willslide into the slot in theshaftand be in position soth'at` 'when the shaft is turned :bythevha'ndle. it will make'a h'altsturn, carrying,the coin' with it, andthecroin will actuate a star wheel G on' the'shat Gg' the edgeof thevcoin -enterin'gpone of the notches g in the star wheel and'turning thestar ywheel a given distance.

the machine is a dog H having'a p'in it .wheel rand locksf it afterthefcoin has actuatedthewheel," and this dog hasgan arm h2 which is invthe path ofthe coin as" it is coin rst lifts thedog and its`l pin out o'immediately the coin vengages the star wheel and turns itthe properdistance. as the coin passes the arm vofthe deg" the pin will drop 'intoanothers'lot, owing to ithe weight of' the dog,"locking the star wheeland itsshaft. f On the end of the shaft G is a gear wheel g,`Fig. 5,whichmeshes with an intermediate pinionI on a'stud l and connected Itothis-pinion is a gear. wheel shaft' is a. gear wheel' Mwliich-me'sheswith the long pinion D onthe' shaft Dj which extends.into-the casing' et the meter and is' geared'to above. The hub m) of thegear wleelM 'is lhavingr'an enlarged portion f and slotted 'at VFivotedatv h to a stud on the frame 'of whichy enters one'of the notches in thestar turned to actnate the star wheel, s'o 4that thr 95 the engagementwithlv thestar wheel, and' As' soon` ye"'whieh'meshes with a pinio'nwkon afs'crew' shaft K and adapted to travel 4on this-screw the drivingrshaft D3, as explained ot 'the joints within the meter casing.

'. ing screw i* 4which will lock the carrier'in i ooved to. receive ,abar N, Fig'. 11, which '1s adapted to a rod b* mounted in the 4casing,and carried by this bar is an indicator hand 13, which travels in frontofthe indicator plate b. Thebar extends rearwardly and has a pin n whichenters the slot inl the arm c' carried bythe valve spindle c j mountedin the valve boxC. A projecting in b in the present instance acts as aguide orthe inner end of the bar N. In order to make the gearinginterchangeable so that erably mount the stud I on a carrier I piv'coins of dierent values may be used, I lprefoted-to the shaft K, andthis carrier has a segmental slbt through which passes a lock-l anyposition to which it is'adjusted, and the gears y and i can be removedand gears of dliferentdiameters substituted therefor;

the gear g 'in the present instance having l *ya square opening adaptedto fit over the 4construction that when a coin is inserted in 4the chuteit slides into the slot in the shaft Fand by turning the shaft a halfturn it will actuate'the star wheel and turn it a A'given distance, thismotion will be transmitte through the gearing to the screw shaft K,which will move the gear wheel M and the bar carried thereby a givendistance in one direction, and the pin on the bar will open the valve inthe v valvefcasing C so that n a supply of gas can passthrough themeter.

At the same .time the hand will indicate the amount of gas which is paidfor. As the gas is cbnsumed the shaft D is driven by the main shaft ofthe meter and as this shaft is geared through its4 long pinion D to thegear wheel M on thescrew shaft K itfwill move the said gear wheel anditsy bar N along the shaft in the opposite direction, gradually movingthe indicator, at the-.same time moving the pin toward ,the lcutting offpoint to close the valve `in the valve box C.' In this meter the valvewlll not close abruptly, but lbefore the valve .entirely -cutsol the gasitwill reduce the `opening so as to indicate to the consumer that the aswill be cut oi without an additional coin is placed in the prepaymentdevice.

In order to properly inclose the operating.

mechanism of the prepayment device so that When-*necessary .access canbe had toV it, I

rovide a detachable casing E, clearly shown 1n Fig. 7 in which is thechute e and a glazed opening e mentioned above, and this casing fitsover the entire mechanism and is deep enough to contain the money drawerat cavie; of this patent may be obtained for ive the base. The lower end is open and has inturned flanges e2 to which is adapted the slide I),illustrated in Fig. 8, on which 1s mounted'the money receptacle 1?. Theslide P has the edges p upturned vso as to fit on the outside of thecasing and has a plate p which overlaps the flanges '62, so as to form asecure jointbetween the plate and the slide. The slide has a back plateP2 provided with anges .p2 adapted to eXtend-on the outside of thecasing E, and carried by this back plate is a lock S having a bolt sadapted to be projected on the inside of the casing E, so as to preventthe withdrawal of the slide P without firstoperating the lock.

The upper portion of the money receptacle vPis flared at p3 so as to titunder the mechanism and direct the coin into the recepy-W hen the casingis placed'in position the openings in the gs t and o are in line and therods T canbe inserted from the bottom through the several openings,locking the casing firmly to -the back plate. The rods T are preferablyturned at right angles, as illustrated in Fig. 9, and have eyes/ whichcan be turned over-the pin u on the back plate and held in place by anordinary wired seal, the wire passing through an` openin in the pin u,as illustrated by dotted lines in Fig. 4. Thus it is impossible toremove the casing E without disturbing the seal and accesscannot be hadto this seal without first removing the slide on which the moneyreceptacle is mounted. By this construction a vvery substantial andeasily detached casing. is provided'which cannot bemaliciously brokeninto ,without destroying some partot the apparatus. I claim v Thecombination of a casing, a shaft within said casing having a longpinion, mechanism capable of'actuating said shaft, a screw shaft, a gearadapted to`travel on the screw shaft and meshing with the long pinion, abar engaging the hub of the gear, a gas-con. trolling valve actuated bythe bar, a shaft having a star-wheel thereon, and geared to the screwshaft, a pawl 'engaging the st-arwheel, a pawl-tripp'ng structure; and arodI mounted to removably supportsaidpawltripping structure.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to Vthis specication, in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

HUGH A. SMITH. Witnesses: f

WM. E. SHURE, WM. A. BARR.

cents each. by .aqdressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

.Washingtom D. C.

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